No relief in Supreme Court for Andhra Pradesh govt on three capital plan

New Delhi, August 26: The Supreme Court Wednesday refused relief to the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh after it made an appeal for lifting the status quo order by the high court on the two news laws for its three capital plan.

Refusing to interfere with the interim order of the high court, a three-judge bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and MR Shah said: “The order is pending with the high court and it may decide the issue expeditiously,” NDTV reported.

“The order has brought everything to a standstill. Preparations have to be done,” senior lawyer Rakesh Dwivedi, representing the state government, told the top court today. “It has never happened that the judiciary has decided where the executive will function from.”

The top court was, however, informed the matter is pending before a bench of the high court, which will commence the hearing from Thursday.

Earlier this month, the high court had ordered a status quo on the state government’s three capitals move.

The new tri-capital plan of the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government involves setting up executive, legislative and judicial capitals at Vishakhapatnam, Amaravati and Kurnool respectively.

The offices of the Chief Minister and Governor will be in Visakhapatnam. The state assembly proceedings will happen in Amaravati and the high court will be located in Kurnool.

Last month, Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan signed two bills- the Andhra Pradesh Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Bill, 2020, and the AP Capital Region Development Authority (Repeal) Bill, 2020. The Bills were sent to the Governor on July 18 and were formally signed on July 31.

In high court, the petitioners, who had filed a batch of petitions opposing the move, had expressed fear that the government was likely to shift the capital from Amaravati and sought a stay on the two new laws. Farmers from Amaravati are among those who have taken a legal route against the government’s move; they had given up their land in promise for returns in the future.

In July, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief and former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu called the Governor’s decision on the three-capital plan a historic blunder. He termed the decision as unlawful as it is in violation of the AP Reorganisation Act 2014.

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/no-relief-in-supreme-court-for-andhra-pradesh-government-on-three-capital-plan-2285468